Feb
10
Written by:
tanyamack
2/10/2010 3:35 PM
With Healthcare reform dominating almost every media outlet over the past month, everyone is listening and learning more about moving our country toward improved healthcare technology use. Electronic Health Records (EHR) appear to be a cornerstone for housing patient medical records and connecting all those responsible for delivering healthcare electronically- starting with encouraging outpatient providers to convert from paper records to electronic records. This conversion itself is an overwhelming task to most medical practices. As we field calls and work with our existing healthcare clients, we often hear (from those brave enough to start), “Where do I begin?!”
Of course, there are a number of places to begin…. Obtaining the finances to purchase the EHR application, a vendor selection process, assigning accountability inside of a practice. All good choices. One choice often overlooked is the assessment of the existing IT network itself and the IT resources.
Starting where you are is often a good strategy. EHR projects are usually preceded by questions such as:
- How many more users will we need to add when the providers are live?
- Will the existing servers be able to handle a huge increase in file space, image storage, and more users?
- Will the existing computer room need a build out? Special venting? Alarms and notification trails for power outages?
- Will our existing devices have the speed and battery life to be able to handle an EHR?
The list goes on and on…..
The point is…pretty early in the process, make sure the existing network is evaluated against the anticipated need. After all, the network itself is a critical element that will enable EHR expansion at all.